At the present state of development of the medical equipment art there is a great need for a device which will lift the hip region of a helpless patient while reclining in bed so that a bedpan can be inserted under the buttocks in position to be used by the patient. At the present time it is customary for one or more attendants to manually lift the hips of the patient until raised sufficiently to allow a bedpan to be inserted under the patient or to roll the patient on to his side and after placing a bed pan on the bed adjacent the patients buttocks to roll the patient back onto the bedpan. The practice of lifting is difficult at best and actually cannot be performed by many attendants and both practices usually are either uncomfortable or, quite painful, or both.
Prior art devices providing an inflatable lift for this same purpose have been proposed but in all cases the problem of getting the lifting device under the patient remains. Such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,744, but it will be observed that the device there disclosed must be inserted under the patient when its use is undertaken. It is found that lifting the patient for the insertion of the device under the patient can be and often is as difficult and troublesome as lifting the patient for the insertion of a bedpan.